Recently, The First Descendant developer Nexon ran a Creative Challenge program on TikTok that allowed users to submit content they have made to be used in ads for the game. However, it was quickly discovered that a number of videos submitted for the challenge, which later appeared on the official First Descendant TikTok account, had been entirely AI generated. These AI videos even included the likenesses of content creators who had no part in making them, and as a result Nexon has put out a statement on Steam apologizing for the situation.
“We would like to sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment caused by the recent issue regarding the TikTok Creative Challenge,” the Steam post reads. It goes on to note that TikTok had confirmed with Nexon that the video sharing social media currently has no system to “verify potential copyright infringement, and TikTok is now conducting further investigations to identify any additional cases.” The post also said that Nexon is taking the situation “very seriously,” further adding that it plans to improve its advertising and marketing processes.
It’s worth noting that not only were the content creators used in these AI videos not involved in their creation, they also did not give their permission for their likeness to be used–one creator, DanieltheDemon, noted that he did not consent for his likeness to be used in such a way in a comment on a TikTok by Game Central.
The First Descendant first launched last year, and as it currently stands the game is sitting at a Mixed rating on Steam. GameSpot’s The First Descendant review wasn’t particularly positive either, giving the game a rating of 3/10.
Earlier this month, a collaboration with NieR: Automata was announced, with both 2B and A2 available as skins in-game.
